The Nei Project
by MarkPrinceRoxas
Summary: The team of scientists have finally reached the last stage of the 'Nei Project'. But is the final result a success or failure? Set before the events of Phantasy Star II, Neifirst centred.


I wrote this a while back under the pen name 'Rika Rulz' and it was posted on the Phantasy Star Pages website. Its gone now and I don't blame the webmaster for removing it, my writing was crap back then. I lost the original so I had to rewrite it but it was quite fun to update this. I supposed it can be like a prequel to Phantasy Star II. Please leave a review if you read, all comments and criticism are welcome. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, all characters are owned by SEGA.

**~*The Nei Project*~**

The man's overgrown fingernails tapped lightly against the pale glass, admiring the creature behind the visible wall. He studied the face that had been so carefully crafted and the stands of hair. It was the colour of violet but yet shimmered a shade of cerulean. Yes he thought to himself, they had finally done the impossible. They had created the ultimate being of beauty and life.

"Just a few more minutes my pretty, and then you will at last enter the world," he whispered, continuing to stare at the creature's face.

"One minute, forty-six seconds until we can begin the rebirth process sir," one of the assistant scientists informed the project leader, as he continuously typed on his keypad, not even moving his eyes away from the computer monitor.

"Excellent," he chirped oh so full of joy. They had been waiting months ever since they had received an urgent message from the super computer Mother Brain that had complete control over the Algol Star System. They had been present with an important and inspirational task, to create the ultimate life form. It was called the 'Nei Project", with the word 'Nei' meaning power which represented what the outcome would be from the finished product. The creature would be able to sustain all life, have no faults whatsoever, increase the living environment and would be knowledgeable in every aspect. There would be no health problems as well with its perfect body type and strict diet.

It was to be created by the team of scientists at the Bio Systems Lab which conducted genetic research upon planet life to benefit the environment. This would be the first time they were going to experiment with actual living beings. The product was going to be brought to life from using the DNA of a Palman and a wild animal. The choice of including Motavians or Dezorians never came to thought, those disrespectful creatures would only destroy the process of creating the ultimate life form. Besides, with those lower beings involved, the project would not reach its full potential.

The Nei Project began, and after many failures in the creation of sustaining the life form, they managed to keep the DNA of a Palman and a Musk Cat alive for further development and research. As a couple of months passed, the life form was developing at an excellent rate, it had already reached the age of a child within a matter for weeks and became a fully grown adult once it had reached the age of five months. Its brain power and intelligence was absorbing every piece of information that was sent its way, because of its advanced growth the creation knew exactly was it was going through as its life developed. It showed signs of being able to manipulate psycho abilities and was easily able to process the usages of techniques and possible even the fabled lost art of magic.

But what was most promising, was its appearance. From the infusion of Musk Cat DNA with an ordinary Palman being, it took on a drastically different look than what the scientists expected. The creature was female and has the normal appearance that a female Palman had but they were feline structures that grew from the Musk Cat sample. Razor sharp claws hidden beneath its fingers were detected and even suggested that they could expand to an unknown but potentially large size. Its ears were on top of its head much like a cat's but were longer and pointy, giving a feral look. It had a slim slender body but tests showed it being extremely agile and had brute strength lying within its muscles. The team had given the creature a simple tight fitting red leotard and thigh high boots with gloves to conceal and protect the claw deep within its hands. It allowed freedom of movement and gave the creature great accessibility.

The leader smiled as the timer reached zero and signaled with a small beeping sound. "Begin the rebirth process," he said to the executive in charge and turned his head back to the glass container, "Its time for our 'Newman' to enter the world,"

The process began immediately, the container of water lit up in light and bubbles filled it instantly. Her long hair danced in curiosity, as if it felt that the time had come for its awakening. Her vital signs climbed high points on the computer screen, her progress was going extremely well just as her conscious broke the barriers.

Her eyes shot open, revealing dark red pupils that glowed intensely. She shifted her head from side to side, her hands patting the glass sheet trying to find out where she was and what was happening after her long sleep until her eyes came to view a rather old man in a white coat staring at her. She saw many others, both male and female wearing the same clothes, attending to technical machines yet staring at her much like the old man like she was a fascinating object.

"Can you hear me?" the leader asked, she could hear him slightly and moved her head closer to the panel. He looked and took this as a yes and laughed, "Wonderful, what are it's stats?"

One of the nearby assistants nodded and checked one of the monitors, "The specimen's vital signs and brain power are at high levels, everything is progressing as predicted,"

"Good," the leader muttered which drew the woman to his expression. She glared at him, the people were talking of her as if she was an object, it angered her, "At last you are awake, welcome to the world…Neifirst," he sniggered in delight.

The women turned her eyes away, so that was her name. She seemed to like it, yet despised it at the same time. A number attached to her name gave her the impression that she wouldn't be the only of her kind to come in the future.

"You can see, hear and interact with what we are saying and you birth has passed every obstacle that was in sight. You are truly a success," he threw his arms out and pulled his head back to express his feelings and what he was about to explain, "This is the Bio Systems Laboratory, on the planet Motavia located in the Algol Star System. And we are the team members of the Nei Project, your creators,"

They all clapped in unison towards themselves and the leader of the project, congratulating a job well done. Her right hand curled into a fist from their actions and the man's long and unnecessary speech. She didn't want to be viewed as a toy for those Palman hands to play with, she was her own person and not a creation.

"You are the first in a long line of new races that we have come to call 'Newman'. You name translates to 'power' which is what your kind will represent, the power to change the world and create a better living not just for ourselves but for the environment and life of Algol as well. We will reach new depths and discover the secrets and meaning of life just because of you, we will finally begin a new age!" he gleamed, extremely proud of him and that the Nei Project would continue on and produce even better Newmans.

All of the computer assistants blinked twice in confusion as something appeared on their screens.

"Uh…sir?" one of the females stuttered.

"What is it!" the leader frowned, he wanted to gloat to his pet more.

"You really have to see this!"

He grunted stepping aside to inspect what was so damn necessary. Neifirst never took her eyes off him, she didn't trust the man. He seemed to be a person who loved himself utterly and was far too stubborn to let anyone change his view on things. She looked around the room again, not one of these beings seemed to care for her, she was just an object that would be kept in close contact until a newer and better version became available and she would never be able to live her own life. She noticed the man and a couple of the team members huddling around the one of the main computers, all arguing and shouting with each other. She couldn't hear what they were saying but from the look of them she could feel that something was not exactly right.

"What is the meaning of this!" the leader shouted out with his hands gripping tightly to his grey hair.

"I don't know! Its not stating any reason for the fault it has detected with the specimen!"

"How could this have happened!" he shouted out right into the female's face. He didn't received an answer until a few seconds later but it was only the same one he received before but worded different.

The computer screen flashed on again with new information appearing, causing all eyes to put their view onto it. Their mouths opened and hanged down once they saw what had appeared before them. On the screen was a message from the super computer Mother Brain itself. It read:

_ERROR FOUND AT HIGHEST LEVEL POSSIBLE  
__UNABLE TO RESTORE DATA  
SPECIMEN = FAILURE__  
DESTROY SPECIMEN_

The leader shuddered as he read the final words, they were ordered to kill the Newman for unknown reasons but she had been classified as a failure. He turned his head and looked at the creature in the glass tube, his child as it were. Neifirst just started at him with uncertainty but with a sense of suspicion at the same time. She knew that something was wrong, he could see it in her eyes. He really didn't want to destroy something so beautiful, but was ordered by Mother Brain and if it was not followed he would be breaking the law. His head lowered as he regretfully snapped his fingers and the team all returned to their position and resumed their work but with sad expressions on their faces.

Within a couple of seconds, Neifirst became fully alert to her surroundings. Her air was cut off from her oxygen mask and she could sense toxins being released into the water that imprisoned her. They were going to kill her, for no reason at all she screamed in her in mind. How dare they try to murder her, she was superior to them, she was the greater race. She couldn't let them get away with this, she wouldn't let them get away with this. She craved for vengeance, for revenge, for justice to be served, she wanted out. She slammed her fists against the glass, causing the team to jump back from her reaction. They knew that she knew exactly what was going on and wasn't having any of it.

The leader quickly called the security hunters as he watched her struggle to break free and stay alive. He noticed the gleam that shimmered in her red eyes, they were becoming a dark shade of red and he swore that they were starting to glow. He could hear the team shouting that her readings were going off the radars and that the cracks in the glass were growing larger.

The security hunters entered the room, only to find a sparkling light, as Neifirst constructed a sword of energy in her right hand. She screeched at the top of her voice in spite of being submerged in water and threw the weapon into the glass, it shattered and erupted immediately and eclipsed the room in a colour as bright as the sun. As the team of scientists and hunters fell to the ground, they saw a deathly image of the Newman's face flash across the room as the water crashing down upon them.

It was silent for fifteen seconds until the leader turned his head to the right seeing his partners trying to pick themselves up. Suddenly an image of a huge claw hand appeared over them and swiped. It ripped the victims to pieces and quickly ended their screams of fear though they were replaced by the screams or everyone else in the room.

Neifirst emerged from the dust covering the glass container with rage burning across her face as her eyes glowed a deep sharp crimson red. The hunters immediately began firing their laser cannons at their enemy. Neifirst simply raised her left hand, revealing the claws that appeared before and attacked the hunters, shedding them completely. The same ghastly portrait of her face and her hair flashed for a brief second before disappearing again when she attacked. The team then started running, screaming for their lives as many were cut down before the could reach the exit doors, slashed by the claws, sliced with the beam swords or by the destroyed technical equipment that was producing large sparks of electricity.

All the leader could do was sit and watch. Watch that image appeared again and again as his partners were slain by what they had brought into the world. He could see the hatred and thirst for blood within her eyes as she moved across the room, destroying everything within her path. He could only think of why they had created this monster, it was never their intention for it to have powers and wrath like this.

The screams disappeared until he could only hear the heels of her boots coming closer. She appeared before him, her long figure prevented his eyes to focus completely on her. She held her fingers up to the sky, curling them in a strange position. Her face showed an evil yet seductive smile, she was still extremely beautiful even at a moment like this.

"How ironic," she said gracefully and licked her lips, "The creator killed by the creation,"

The man's voice trembled as she released her own physical claws from her fingers. They grew past her cheekbones and her could see the light shining off their razor sharp texture. He could only move his mouth slightly as they were swiped upon him and the last image he saw was that face, it screamed down into his soul and torn it apart, ending his life.

Neifirst, now alone could alone hear the screams of the few who managed to escape fade away into the background. It was replaced by a small beeping sound of a computer that managed to survive the carnage, Neifirst saw the words upon it and her anger swelled up once more.

She screamed pulling her arms behind her back and the she threw them forward, creating the psycho claws and destroyed the evil piece of machinery. Filled with rage, she furiously stomped out of the room, coming into the main hallway and vented her anger upon everything that was in sight. No matter what it was, it was ripped to shreds or blown to pieces as she went from room to room. However, she stopped when she encountered the door of one of the rooms. It read 'Breeding Room', it sounded very familiar to what she was and she walked in.

She found the place to be quite small, only holding glass containers of plants and insects that appeared to have been genetically modified. She stopped at one of the containers, because it was very unique in its own way. The dead creature inside was a huge man made insect, with its fangs tickling with dried up venom, they were dull suggesting that the creature had been dead for sometime. There was a label upon it that drew Neifirst's attention. It read that it was a 'Fire Ant' created by the infusion of different wild animals as a test for the Nei Project. Neifirst shivered slightly, she could of looked like this? It was made from the DNA results at the Climate Control Centre and sent the information back to the Bio Systems Lab where it could be created through the DNA samples and brought to life.

Neifirst's eyes skimmed across what she had read but they immediately brought themselves back to the last part. DNA results at the Climate Control Centre? DNA samples at the Bio Systems Lab that could create such a thing? Her grin grew wide and it was indeed knowing, this test subject had become her new best friend. This was how she was get revenge upon the people that wronged her and used her as an object. She would create creatures like this from orders at the Climate Control Centre and release them into the wilderness and terrorise the people of the planet. Oh boy it was too good to be true, but somehow she had the feeling that she shouldn't do such as thing but Neifirst quickly shoved it to the back of her head.

Her eyes lit up as she just realised something after kicking her strange thought away. The Climate Control System? That obviously controls the weather and geological state of the planet didn't it? She sniggered slightly for the fact those stupid Palmans had educated her during her development. Motavia used to be a desert planet, completely covered in sand and only had one tiny lake as its source of water in the past. Thanks to Mother Brain and the Climate Control Centre, Motavia was now a lush planet filled with green and farms to provide food and suitable living conditions with the temperature and water supplies. If she altered it, the whole of Motavia could go into recession. That would be the ultimate pleasure, for those lowly worms to die of not only the 'bio monsters' that the scientists named the ant creature but they would die of hunger, disease and dehydration. And once it had all ended she could rule the planet herself as the superior race and create her future.

She turned to the left, and saw her prize for coming up with her scheme. The fabled DNA samples that they had used to create their little pet. She snatched them into her hand, staring deep into the vials realising that she could now achieve her goals.

Walking out of the room and heading for the exit with determination in her eyes, Neifirst was going to reshape Motavia and soon Algol itself with her own hands. Then punish those evil beings who betrayed her in the first place, she laughed to herself as she left the building and entered the wilderness.

Back in the 'Nei Project Room' the computer screen lit up once again, having survived Neifirst's assault early. It flashed a new message, once again from the super computer Mother Brain before fading away a couple of seconds later.

_SPECIMEN BROUGHT TO LIFE__  
SPECIMEN BREAKS FREE OF CONTROL OF PROJECT MEMBERS__  
ALL MEMBERS ARE DESTROYED  
__SPECIMEN STEALS DNA SAMPLES FROM BIO SYSTEMS LAB  
__SPECIMEN HEADS FOR CLIMATE CONTROL TO START BIO MONSTER OUTBREAK__  
DESTRUCTION OF MOTAVIA INEVITABLE  
NEI PROJECT = SUCCESS_


End file.
